the signatures plugin that i have created, saves a text field as a usersetting within the tools page of the settings area for each user.

when an admin edits the value of the text field, the change is saved not to the presently viewed user, but to the admin's own field.

the relevant part of the php file for the usersettings page is presently as follows:

echo elgg_view("input/longtext", array("name" => "params[signature]", "value" => elgg_get_plugin_user_setting('signature', elgg_get_page_owner_guid(),'signature')));    

the page owner guid is, as expected, the guid of the user who's signature is to be edited. so it seems that somewhere within the usersettings code (beyond the scope of my plugin), the guid of the currently logged in user is being used, in place of the page owner, while saving the data.

however, i have looked at the river_addon plugin, which works correctly, and am not seeing any obvious difference between the way i am coding the usersettings page and the way river_addon does..

so for now, i have no idea what the cause of the challenge here is. anyone?